Fantasy Baseball Season in Review – Catcher & Closer Duds

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  • By Paul Williamson

    Last Updated on November 7, 2026 1:32 pm by Paul Williamson | Published: November 7, 2026

    As we wind down out 2026 season in review series, we will combine the last two remaining position groups, closers and catchers.

    If you want to see the studs, duds and surprises at the rest of the position groups (including the studs at catcher/closer), check out the articles listed here. 

    Now let us dive into the duds from 2026 season at both catcher and closer.

    We begin with the catchers.

    CATCHERS
    Cal Raleigh – Seattle Mariners

    After a historic 2025, Raleigh was the consensus top fantasy catcher in 2026 drafts, even getting into the first round in a lot of drafts.

    Yikes. 

    23 homers. 49 runs. 69 RBI. .182 average.

    That isn’t a player that is rosterable in standard one-catcher setups.

    He salvaged his power in the second half with 14 of his 23 bombs in his final 209 at bats.

    And the average jumped almost 30 points in the second half.

    To .196.

    Womp. Womp. 

    Now that second half did see him return the kind of quality of contact we are used to seeing from him.

    • Hard-Hit rate – 32.5% –> 47.4%
    • Barrel rate – 11.0% –> 17.5%
    • Average exit velocity – 88.2 MPH –> 92.2 MPH

    And with Raleigh’s poor hit tool numbers (70.1%, 14.9% SwStr%), he needs the quality of contact to be like that second half.

    But here is the thing, those hit tool metrics are actually not so bad that they are prohibitive.

    And those quality of contact improvements in the second half was just regression to his career mean as there was no way he was going to have those poor exit velocities give his elite bat speed.

    And while Raleigh’s extreme flyball approach and subpar hit tool will make it where his batting average may never be a plus, we did see his BABIP drop to .220 (.247 career BABIP) and his quality of contact is definitely hard enough that we can see that positively regressing, meaning getting back to an average in the .220-.230 range seems to be a reasonable expectation.

    I fully anticipate a rebound from Raliegh, though closer to his 2023-2024 levels where he will give you 30+ homers with a .220-.230 average.

    Agustin Ramirez – Miami Marlins

    This man got so much helium in drafts as he was drafted like a top-5/6 catcher.

    But when a player has as many plate appearances in Triple-A (241) as the majors (255), you know something went terribly wrong.

    After 21 homers and 16 steals in his rookie campaign in 2025, he hit just five homers with four steals and a .235 average in 2026.

    The quality of contact plummeted.

    • Barrel rate – 11.0% –> 4.2%
    • Hard-hit rate – 47.0% –> 41.6%
    • xSLG – .457 –> .320
    • xwOBA – .332 –> .285
    • Ground ball rate – 47.6% –> 51.8%

    In Triple-A we did see those quality of contact numbers go up to 52.1% on the hard-hit and 7.4% on the barrel, though the ground ball rate got worse, getting up to 53.4%.

    Then we have the hit tool numbers that dropped.

    He did get the chase down with a 10%+ BB% but the swinging strike went from 11.6% to 13.8%. The contact% went from 76.7% to 71.5% and the in-zone contact rate (Z-Con%) went from 88.1% to 81.3%.

    The Triple-A numbers were pretty much in between those numbers. Better, but not good enough to instill any confidence.

    The presence of Joe Mack also complicates things as he isn’t guaranteed a spot on the opening day lineup.

    As of now, Ramirez is only draftable in 15-team, two-catcher setups as a third ‘wild-card’ catcher, just in case he gets the job.

    If we do learn he gets the job, he is a 12-team, two-catcher option and should be on standard one-catcher leagues’ watch lists given his potential upside.

    (dis)Honorable Mentions

    Salvador Perez – Kansas City Royals – SalP’s second half salvaged his season after an absolutely disastrous first half. The OPS went from .593 to .752 with a wRC+ going from 58 to 104. The barrel improved to 12.5% (from 9.4%) to help him return better power numbers. BABIP going from .232 to .278 is behind the average improvement as his exit velos were similar in the second half. However, his depreciated bat speed (71.7 MPH, 18.6% Fast-Swing rate) continued  in the second half and this the most scary part of what we saw from him this year. For managers who punt catcher to the end of drafts in one-catcher setups, he is going to be a target for those managers as there is a chance he can keep up his second half production given his track record.

    Relief Pitchers
    Edwin Diaz – Los Angeles Dodgers

    I typically avoid calling injured players ‘duds’ as the analysis is usually shallow (he was hurt. He was a dud) and not worthy of my time or yours.

    But Diaz was so bad when he was healthy that his draft value will likely be significantly depreciated and an examination as to whether or not it is worth it to buy the dip is well warranted.

    Diaz threw 18.2 innings in 2026 with an 8.68 ERA, 29.2% K, 11.5% BB% and 1.98 WHIP.

    The 7.4% barrel rate, 46.3% hard-hit rate and 28.3% ground ball rate were all amongst the worst of his career.

    He got no chase with just a 29.9% O-Sw%. Diaz also got no whiffs with a 76.8% contact% and 10.4% SwStr%. He usually sits at least at 16% and in the low-60s on both those marks so these numbers are just blegh.

    When the season first began, he was sitting 95, maybe 96 sometimes and he got smacked around hard. He originally stated that his velocity was always down in April and there was no reason to worry.

    Then he had surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow and he missed the next three months. He missed another month with neck inflammation.

    In the final month of the year and in the postseason, the velocity was back at 97-98 and the results were back.

    September brought a 0.10 FIP, 1.31 xFIP, with a 52.9% K% and 14.5% SwStr%.

    He threw 6.0 October innings and had a 1.50 ERA and 14.5% SwStr%. He averaged 98.0 MPH in October as well.

    I think this is a situation where we can chalk up his velocity decrease and poor performance to his injuries. Once he got healthy, we saw the Edwin Diaz we wanted.

    Whatever dip there is in his cost I will be there to buy.

    Devin Williams – New York Mets

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    November 7, 2026, 1:32 pm